Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Diwali is one of the most famous festival in india which is considered as one of the holiest day for hundus and the people from south India call it as Deepawali.

Diwali is extracted from a sanskrit word Deepawali where Deep means light and wali means row hence row of lights. It is also called as festival of lights, crackers and mithais(sweets). People light diya, lamp or colourful small bulbs. People light the lamp or diya during the morning and keep it burning during day and night for the diwali day.

Friday, September 03, 2004

In South India, it is associated with Krishna’s defeat of Narakasura a demon from the netherworld. This event was supposed to have taken place at at dawn on ‘Narakachaturdashi’, a day before Diwali. So Tamilians burst crackers at the break of the dawn, unlike people in rest of the country.

In certain rural areas, Diwali heralds the beginning of the harvest season. As per Mahabarata, the Pandavas too were believed to have returned from their exile around this time time. Sikh’s celebrate Diwali to commemorate the release of their sixth Guru, Guru Hargobindji from the captivity of a Muslim king of Gwalior. Jains believe that Lord Mahavira reached Nirvana (salvation) during Diwali time. Mahavira was at that time believed to be 71 years old.

The traditional celebration of Diwali is spread over five days. The days beginning with the first are known as Dhanteras or Dhantryaodashi. The Second day is called Narka-Chaturdashi or Chhoti Diwali. The third day of the festival of Diwali is known as Lakshmi-Puja. The Fourth day is known as Padwa or VarshaPratipada. The Fifth and final day of Diwali Festival is observed as Bhaiya-Dooj.

Diwali is actually derived from the original name ‘Deepavali’. Deepa in Sanskrit means ‘light’ and ‘avali’ means a row. When literally translated, Deepavali means a ‘row of lights’. As per the Indian calendar it is celebrated on Amavasya (the new moon day) in the end of the month Ashwin, which ushers in the month of Karthik around October/ November every year.

Diwali is celebrated in north India in honor of Rama's return to Ayodhya after he vanquished Ravana. He was also coronated as a king on the same day. It is celebrated twenty days subsequent to Vijayadasami. But in some states it is celebrated for different reasons. For instance, in Gujarat it is an event to welcome Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Bengalis worship Goddess Kali on this day. The celebrations are however quite uniform throughout the country.

Crackers are sine qua non for this festival. So more the noise the merrier it is. Homes are lit up for the festival with diyas-small oil lanterns.You have ‘rockets’ which are highly whimsical in the way they veer. They can zip at you from out of the blue making you run for cover!!! Then you have deafening hydrogen bombs which can unnerve you by making your heart skip a beat. But the most pleasing sight, however, is that of little kids holding sparklers gleefully. The fountain like shower of a flower pot is also a spectacle worth a watch. So nylon clothes should not be worn on that day to preempt any hazards. Most of the large organisations in Northern and Western India present their employees and clients a boxful of sweets.